KAPA‘A — Kaneohe All Stars and ‘Aiea All Stars were tied 13-13 after six innings of regulation play on Saturday during the Hawai‘i Little League 9 through 11 state tournament being played at the Kawaihau Community Little League main diamond located at Bryan J. Baptiste Sports Complex.
“This is a playoff contest,” said announcer Daniel Bernal. “There must be a winner. We go to extra innings.”
Kaneohe had first bat and with two outs got a pair of runners aboard — Parker Waracka and Kama Poepoe-Davis-Nozawa from walks. The threat ended with Kaneohe getting its third out on a batter looking at strike three, leaving two runners stranded.
Aiea jumped on the extra frame when Hudson Ulrich walked first, and after advancing on passed balls, went on to score the winning run on a passed ball for a 14-13 read in the final.
Aiea opened strong with four runs marked in the first frame that Kaneohe answered with two runs in the second inning for a quick 4-2 Aiea lead.
Kaneohe persisted and Nathaniel Hipolito marked his second run of the contest in the fourth frame to pull to within one run at 4-3.
Aiea answered in the home half with three runners — Jake Otani, Lucas Cintron and Ulrich — crossing for the 7-3 go-ahead.
Kaneohe exploded for nine runs in the fifth frame for the 11-7 go-ahead for the first time in the contest. Aiea could only muster a pair of runs in their home half for the 11-9 deficit.
Aiea jumped on four runs in the sixth frame to deadlock the contest after Kaneohe added two runs in the top half of the sixth.
These two teams are just part of the five-team field in the ages 9 through 11 state tournament that opened Friday when Hilo shut down Aiea 5-0, and Waipio beat Kaneohe 10-3.
Host Kawaihau fell victim to Hilo 11-1 on Saturday and Aiea sent Kaneohe home with its 14-13 extra inning affair.
The championship contest for the tournament is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. on Tuesday at the main diamond.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
